KINGSTON — I feel that each body of water I’ve fished here in Ontario has scenery that is worthy of being on a screensaver (or postcard if anyone uses those anymore). With so many options, we are truly lucky to be able to set out on these lakes and rivers without travelling far from home.

Recently a special guest joined me aboard my boat, visiting all the way from Saskatchewan. It is refreshing when someone experiences our waters for the first time, even if they are no stranger to the sport of fishing.

I met Jason Matity and his brother Jeff over the winter when I traveled to Regina to do seminars at a tradeshow. The trip was one of the most memorable in my lifetime as I also had the chance to target giant northern pike through the ice thanks to these two brothers. My largest pike of the trip was 43.5 inches in length with a 20-inch girth! After our day on the ice it felt as if we were longtime friends. I promised to take them fishing one day if they made a trip to Ontario.

I really hoped for the opportunity to provide them with a great experience here such as I had there. We stayed in touch after I left Saskatchewan and shortly after Jason decided to plan a trip to Ottawa. He and his wife had some activities planned but he also wanted to factor in some fishing time while visiting.

When speaking on the phone prior to his arrival, I asked Jason which species he would like to focus on.

“I would be happy to fish for anything,” he said, “although I don’t get a lot of opportunities to target smallmouth.”

To target smallmouth bass Jason has to drive at least eight hours from home. They do have many other species including walleye, northern pike, various trout species, and largemouth bass but smallmouth aren’t easily accessible. I really wanted to get him into some of the nice smallies we have access to.

We arrived to one of my favourite lakes last Friday morning to sunny skies and low wind. Perfect weather. The lake has both smallmouth and largemouth as well as other species, but we had set out with a goal to get Jason into his largest smallies yet. This lake is loaded with structure gems and I often only need to use my trolling motor to move from spot to spot across the lake. With so many humps and shoals throughout the lake, there is so much structure for bait and fish to relate to. In my time spent on this lake I’ve also found humps that weren’t marked on the map proving to be hotspots for smallies.

We started out fishing around an island with a steep drop and began hooking fish right away on a drop shot, although they weren’t very big. Regardless it was a great way to start the day and we found that fish were holding consistently in about 20 feet of water on weedlines or on reefs. Jason loved the action from the beginning and was in awe with the landscape and the fact that not many boats populated the water. There are typically less boaters on the water during the week, but this lake is especially less crowded since the public boat launch is made of gravel and there is no dock. Thankfully I have an aluminum boat and can launch it nearly anywhere, giving me access to secluded fishing spots that can be risky for fibreglass boats to launch from.

Hitting hump after hump, we found that the small main lake humps surrounded in deep water were holding better-quality fish. Our magic number was still in about 20 feet of water with fish showing up on my Humminbird nearly every time. The wind picked up in the afternoon making it crucial for us to drop spot markers into the water in order to stay on top of the tiny humps. As the afternoon went on, we weren’t picking up as many fish but the quality was increasing and Jason was sure he had beat his personal best. A win/win all around and just another wonderful day on a small Ontario lake. Yes, we are lucky!